Transcript: Snapshot 036 – Leila Viss
Transcript for Snapshot 036 – Leila Viss
[00:00:00] Andrea: Hey, it’s Andrea with Music Studio Startup, the podcast about the business of teaching music. Learn from the startup stories of music teachers who are doing incredible things with their studios. Be inspired by creative musicians who are branching out and thriving as entrepreneurs. Be empowered by the insights of experts who will help you grow your own studio.
Let’s get started.
Welcome back. We are doing a special series on the podcast this summer called Studio Snapshots. Rather than the in-depth process oriented interviews, you’re used to hearing these rapid fire interviews, give us a glimpse into a guest’s studio at a moment in time. They’re part reflection, part anticipation of the future, and fully a celebration of where these teachers are today.
Today I’m talking to Leila Viss. Here’s Leila’s Snapshot.
Hi, Leila. Welcome to the podcast. Can you introduce yourself and tell us briefly about your studio?
[00:01:04] Leila Viss: Sure. Thanks for having me here today, Andrea. I’m Leila Viss. I am in Centennial, Colorado. I’ve had a in-home studio for I don’t know how many years. It’s gotta be over 30, and I teach around 25 students of all ages.
I also enjoy playing at our church down the road. I’m an organist. One of the few left I hear and also play crossover with the worship team at church. And I love to compose myself and I also like to help people compose and get creative. And so I have something called A Space to Create where I help teachers and pianists nurture and embrace their creativity.
[00:01:49] Andrea: Excellent. You are a very busy lady, and so thank you for taking the time out today to do this interview. Let’s jump right in. What are you celebrating from the last school year?
[00:01:57] Leila Viss: I love that question because I don’t necessarily celebrate and I don’t even necessarily reflect, and so it’s a good thing to reflect on those things.
So first of all, I think, you know, uh, celebrating the fact that I had most all of my students perform at the recital, and I would say that they did their very best. So that’s always a nice feeling. And I’m celebrating the fact that most of them are coming back. One’s not because she’s moving into high school, but I think that’s one of the things that I look for is I look forward to seeing them again next year.
And then I’ve also started some new things at my website. I had a home at leilaviss.com for years. This year I started something like I mentioned, called Space to Create, which is a membership. Which is always a little scary ’cause there’s a subscription involved and then I have to tell myself, but look at how many subscriptions that you are subscribing to.
So it’s not the worst thing in the world. And um, then I’m also helping out a friend, Marie Lee has something called Group Illuminated. And, uh, I volunteered to create space for her and her needs at my website as well. So I am branching out and doing some interesting things.
[00:03:11] Andrea: All sorts of things. Okay. How were you challenged last year?
[00:03:14] Leila Viss: You know, I think the biggest challenge was setting up this membership because I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have clarity. I still don’t know if I have complete clarity, but it’s getting there. And it was one of those things where, you know, if you don’t decide what you’re gonna do, who else is?
So I had to make the tough decisions and just stick with them. And sometimes I think that’s can be the hardest thing. I also have a hard time marketing and selling things. I love to create things but finding ways to attract new customers. We, we all have to do that in our studios, but also I’m sure you feel the same way. We have to find new people and then we have to let them know that we’re filling a need.
I also think that it’s hard to talk people into investing in their creativity because I think they think, well, you know, how is that gonna help my bottom line? And so I had to really think through that. And I have come up with a solution. I believe that staying creative keeps your students hanging around, and that’s really what you want, is you want your students to return and you want a thriving studio.
A full studio is okay, but I’d say a thriving studio is really important, especially in these days when we need to establish relationships. I think it’s very important.
[00:04:34] Andrea: Yeah, for sure. Did you take any risks or go outside your comfort zone?
[00:04:38] Leila Viss: Yes. You know, everything that we probably want in life is a little bit out of our comfort zone.
So that’s one of those things that I just have to tell myself that you can do hard things and when we do that, uh, we can benefit from it, but we also always learn. And I think that’s what I’m taking away right now as I’m learning a lot for. .
[00:04:59] Andrea: What do summers look like in your studio for your students and also for you?
[00:05:03] Leila Viss: I need a change. I used to require all of my students to take lessons during the summer, at least, maybe four to six lessons. And now it is optional. They have to pay a deposit in order to reserve their spot for the fall. But I have just drop in lessons on Tuesdays. So people sign up through My Music Staff. They go to their student portal and they can see what times and dates are available and they sign up and it’s a beautiful thing. I get an email that they’ve signed up. So that has really eased my summer quite a bit. Now I do have some students that are just perfect for some summer camps. So I’m going to throw a few of those in this summer, which I haven’t done for a few summers.
So, uh, who knows if I’ll do it again afterwards. But you know, you just know that certain students are just ready and ripe for this opportunity. Then I also hold composiums of, I would say most of my composiums happen during the summer because that’s when teachers are more available for professional development.
So I’ve got kind of a nice mix of different things going on in the summer.
[00:06:10] Andrea: Yeah, it sounds like it. I love hearing how teachers change their policies to really work for the season of life that they’re in and what they want to achieve out of their business and life. And switching to a more flexible summer policy is one example of that. So thank you.
What are you doing this summer to prep for next school year?
[00:06:28] Leila Viss: I didn’t think about it that I was prepping for the next year when I created a form for all of my students to complete at their last lesson of their spring session. And I just called it an overview of the last year, and I just had some questions like, what was your favorite piece you learned and what was your second favorite piece to learn?
And what did you learn that was new this year? What could you be better at? What pieces do you wanna play? Just some of those general questions and you know what? I saved all of those little sheets and those are what I’m gonna be looking at in the fall because they’ve given me some great ideas.
[00:07:11] Andrea: That’s fantastic. So you had them do that in the lesson? Like a just a little survey, end of year survey?
[00:07:16] Leila Viss: Yes, because I have off bench time. Two students usually come at the same time for an hour, and then one is on bench with me and one is off bench. They are usually doing something on the iPad or some kind of worksheet or whatever.
So yes, I, I love that extra time that I get with them because then I can do those things.
[00:07:34] Andrea: Yeah, that’s a great idea. Okay. What app or tool has made the biggest impact on your studio or life management this year?
[00:07:41] Leila Viss: You know, that’s really hard. In fact, I just wrote a blog about all the tools that I use. It was quite something.
[00:07:48] Andrea: I read it. I read it. It was good. We should link to it in the show notes.
[00:07:51] Leila Viss: Okay. Because I was really stunned when I started thinking about, oh my goodness, really? That’s how many tools I use. So it was really hard to just choose one, I have to say that during the pandemic I started using Tenara because I thought that was a great way to deliver assignments. And I wanted a pipeline that I could communicate through with my students between lessons. So then Tenara shut their doors and then we had to find another option. And I have now relied on Practice Space, and I’m using that more and more and loading it up with all the things that I need in order to make my life easier when it comes to delivering assignments and keeping track of who’s doing what.
So, you know, I know a lot of people use Practice Space because they want to track students’ practice. I kind of do that, but I do it more for me, so that really keeps me organized.
[00:08:50] Andrea: Okay. What’s one area of your business where you tend to get carried away or go overboard? Just because it’s something you really enjoy doing.
[00:08:57] Leila Viss: My number one rabbit hole is Canva. I could live in there all day. I am a daughter of an art professor, so I have some design genes that I love to use in Canva, and I create all my documents in that now as well. It’s really, if I’m not in Google Docs, I’m in Canva. And then my other little rabbit hole, which uh, I was afraid of for a long time was Squarespace.\
And now I really enjoy trying new things in Squarespace and learning and realizing that, hey, I can try something and I won’t fall down. I won’t hurt anyone. So those two.
[00:09:34] Andrea: Another outlet for creativity there.
[00:09:36] Leila Viss: Exactly.
[00:09:37] Andrea: And where can listeners get in touch with you?
[00:09:39] Leila Viss: I’m at leilaviss.com. I’ve got lots of different places where you can get in touch and I love questions. I love people reaching out and finding out how they can get more creative.
[00:09:53] Andrea: All right, thank you, Leila.
[00:09:54] Leila Viss: Thanks, Andrea. This was great to chat.
[00:10:00] Andrea: Thank you for taking the time to be with us Leila. We’ll include a transcript and all the links mentioned in this episode at musicstudiostartup.com/snapshot036. The Music Studio Startup website is also filled with lots of other resources for music teachers just like you who wanna set up their studios for success this summer, including our very popular self-paced Business Building 101 course, and our hub and mastermind for studio owners who wanna be supported and challenged to grow as entrepreneurs.
If you are ready to dive in, the live summer cohort of Business Building 101 is underway. Teachers are actively working on setting up and revamping their studios, and it’s not too late. To join in, visit musicstudiostartup.com/businessbuilding101 to enroll. That’s all for today. Thanks for listening.
I’ll be back next week.